Part 3: In the red heart of Australia

The journey.

Australia is huge. 'Oh, really!' you might think, 'who would have thought!?' But it's even BIGGER!

Oh, sorry!! Hello there. Or as they say here: 'G'Day mates! How are you doing guys?'

Any other response than 'Fine! How are YOU doing?' is obsolete 😉.

After the sailing trip and another night in the backpackers hostel, I've been sitting in the Greyhound bus to Cairns for four hours now. And I'll be sitting here for the next seven hours too. Actually, I want to go to Alice Springs and join a 4WD safari to Mt. Uluru (Ayers Rock) there the day after tomorrow. But when I couldn't find a suitable flight from Prosperpine, I thought: instead of standing around at various airports for a total of 2 days, I'll just take the bus for nearly 2500 km. At least I can sit on my bottom doing that. Unfortunately, Greyhound has changed their schedules in the meantime and that doesn't work anymore. So now I'm combining both: I'm taking the bus to Cairns tonight and flying from there to Alice Springs tomorrow morning. It's too bad I don't have time to explore Cairns itself. From what I've heard from fellow sailors, it's supposed to be great there. (So there's another reason to come back!!)

Now, back to the backpacker hostels: they're a budget-friendly alternative to hotels. If you don't want to relive too many memories of staying in youth hostels in your childhood, you don't have to stay in the mixed 8-bed room. There are also double rooms for single use. Of course, there's only a shared bathroom (and if you're smarter than me, you'll also find the right one 🙈🤷‍♂️!) And depending on the crowd, it can get lively in the evenings. But quiet nights are not guaranteed even in significantly more expensive hotels. I think they're fine for transit and my last night was exceptionally quiet.

So my dears, I think I'll check in again from Alice Springs tomorrow before the safari starts

In the meantime, I'll be driving around in the not much cooler bus through endless landscapes at 35°C outside temperature (we're expecting a little heat wave).

See you soon! Or as they say: 'see you guys!'